Tag: MMA opinions

Mr. White Takes His UFC 151 Ball and Goes Home

Now that the smoke has settled on the cancellation of UFC 151, I’m convinced that this is the most idiotic decision in the history of the modern UFC. I’m tired of reading that this is.

Now that the smoke has settled on the cancellation of UFC 151, I’m convinced that this is the most idiotic decision in the history of the modern UFC. I’m tired of reading that this is Jon Jones’ fault. I’m tired of reading that this is Greg Jackson’s fault. They both did exactly what they should have done and anyone who disagrees lacks a fundamental understanding of what it takes to prepare for a championship fight in the UFC. How is Jones supposed to watch tape, gameplan and then drill that gameplan in three days, which is how much actual training time he would have had before the onset of his media commitments? Yes, Jones could probably beat Sonnen nine times out of ten even without proper preparation but why take any risk at all at this point in his career? He didn’t create this situation and it isn’t his responsibility to fix it.

The people who did create this situation are Dan Henderson, Team Quest and Dana White. Hey, Dan Henderson and Team Quest. How about you tell the UFC as soon as soon as an injury occurs so that they can prepare a backup plan in case Henderson can’t go? Hey, Dana White. How about you not react in the least professional way possible? Here’s a step by step breakdown of Mr. White’s reaction. One, freak out. Two, call Jon Jones and try to strong arm him into taking a fight against Chael Sonnen with three days of real training time to prepare. Three, double down on your freak out when Jones declines the fight and throw your most marketable asset under an oncoming semi truck full of matches and gasoline in front of every microphone that happens to be in range of your spittle spewing lips. Four, cancel the entire event screwing all the other fighters on the card as well as fans who paid for tickets and travel, vendors, event staff, PPV providers etc.

Anything would have been better than what happened here. Have Anderson Silva fight Joe 205er. Have Jones fight Sonnen in a non-title fight with Sonnen guaranteed a title shot if he pulls off the upset. Find two in shape name guys and throw together a catch weight fight. Move the fight to free TV. Drop the price of the PPV and partially refund ticket prices. Anything other than this immature nonsense. I’ll take any bet that if Mr. White would have put out the word that Henderson was scratched and the card needed a headlining fight within 48 hours or the card was going to be cancelled altogether, a solution would have presented itself. Instead, he made a ridiculous worst case scenario snap decision.

Dana White has done some great things in his time overseeing the UFC. This is not one of them. Hopefully, everyone involved learns lessons about the importance of having a second fight that can carry the card and immediate notification of serious injuries. This is a scenario that cannot be repeated if the UFC hopes to continue its explosive growth.

UFC 146 – Thoughts and Opinions

–Let’s make this all-heavyweight card a one time experience. I enjoy watching the big guys go at it but for fifty bucks, I’d like to see more than 22 minutes of fights out of the.

Cain

–Let’s make this all-heavyweight card a one time experience. I enjoy watching the big guys go at it but for fifty bucks, I’d like to see more than 22 minutes of fights out of the main card. And with all the prelims airing on Facebook and FX, the old fix of just plugging in the earlier fights to fill the gaps in the broadcast isn’t as reliable because most fans have already seen them. The entirety of the five fights on the main card didn’t even add up to one full five round fight. So while the heavyweights are usually good for some fireworks, let’s make sure we mix in some lower weight classes to balance out the first round knockouts with some hard fought scraps that go the distance.

–Give us a rematch between Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez. I know the result will probably be similar to the first fight but after feeling the champion’s power, maybe Velasquez will be more aggressive in getting the fight to the ground and be able to put up a better fight. And more importantly, does anyone want to see Alistair Overeem anywhere near the UFC belt? He has long been considered one of the most egregious PED abusers in the sport based on circumstantial evidence and now that he’s been popped by the commission, can’t we just move on from the idea of him as a legitimate MMA contender? His body has changed more over the course of his career than Barry Bonds. I’ve been watching him since he was a young fighter with good striking, a weak chin, no cardio and no ground game fighting in Pride in Japan. Now, he looks like a completely different human being and having grown up in the era of PED use in all sports, I refuse to be naive and believe him when he says he’s clean.

–The entire MMA community is showering Cain Velasquez with praise after his win over Antonio Silva. Everything I’ve heard and read refers to the performance as dominant. To my eyes, that was not a dominant performance. Early in the first round, Silva threw a kick and Velasquez used it to score a takedown. Silva was defending well on the ground and keeping Velasquez from landing anything cleanly. The former champion managed to slip an elbow through Silva’s guard and even though it wasn’t a powerful strike, it opened a gushing gash on the bridge of Silva’s nose. From there, the cut blinded Silva and Velasquez was able to take advantage and land punches to finish the fight. I guess I just don’t consider landing a glancing elbow and then beating up a blind opponent to be as impressive as most other people in the MMA community, which leads to the next point.

–I suspect that if the situation on Saturday night was reversed and Silva had landed a glancing elbow that turned Velasquez’s face into a blood fountain, people would be calling the outcome a fluke and arguing for the UFC to ban elbows to the head of a grounded opponent. But because Velasquez was perceived to be the superior fighter going into the fight, his performance is viewed as justification of his status in the heavyweight division. So, should the UFC remove elbow strikes to the head of a grounded opponent from its fights? No. The only things that should be removed from the sport are techniques that can either cause life-altering injuries or require absolutely no technical skill. The classic example of that is groin strikes. Groin strikes are not allowed because anyone can kick someone in the groin and if they were allowed, the entire sport would be based on around developing a stance that protected the groin while setting up a myriad of groin attacks. And no one wants to see that. Obviously, elbows on the ground don’t fall into that category so they should remain a part of the sport. And while I’m on the subject, the UFC needs to bring back twelve to six elbows and knees to the head of a grounded opponent. I know they’re more focused on getting licensed in every state and in reality, they should be. But I’m tired of watching guys put one hand on the ground so they can’t be kneed. That goes against the spirit of the sport and it looks cheap. The more techniques remain in the sport, the faster and more fluid the fights will be.

Strikeforce – Barnett vs. Cormier: Thoughts and Opinions

Strikeforce – Barnett vs. Cormier: Thoughts and Opinions –Saturday night’s Strikeforce card was much better than advertised. Especially by me. It featured the arrival of Daniel Cormier as a major contender and a fight between.

Strikeforce – Barnett vs. Cormier: Thoughts and Opinions

–Saturday night’s Strikeforce card was much better than advertised. Especially by me. It featured the arrival of Daniel Cormier as a major contender and a fight between Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thompson that proved all of us who said we had no interest in seeing this rivalry become a trilogy wrong. Unfortunately, it doesn’t leave us with much to anticipate going forward. Melendez has no one else in the division to fight. Yes, he could fight Pat Healy. But in reality, Healy is clearly the third best 155 pounder in Strikeforce after Melendez and Thompson. Cormier has even less competition. And by that, I mean no competition. If he doesn’t move to the UFC, Strikeforce is going to have to sign someone just to get him a fight. The only interesting fight to be made after this card is Rafael Cavalcante vs. Gegard Mousasi, which brings me to my next point.

–The UFC appears to be continuing its strategy of purchasing, pillaging and disbanding its competition. And with their ridiculous success over the last ten years, I don’t blame them for sticking with the gameplan. But I think they might be ignoring one aspect of running a professional athletics empire. They are clearly modeling their organization more on successful team sport endeavors like the NFL and NBA than on the combat sports model created by boxing. They want to be the one venue where the best athletes compete for the most important championships. And to a large extent, they have already achieved that. But before those athletes are ready to be amongst the best in the world, they need to develop their skills somewhere. The NHL and MLB both have extensive minor league systems where young players compete to earn the right to play at the highest level. The NBA and NFL both use the NCAA for the same purpose. With collegiate MMA an unlikely proposition any time in the near future, the UFC is going to need a developmental system for young fighters who are not ready for the octagon. My suggestion to the UFC would be to use Strikeforce for that purpose. Make Strikeforce the proving ground for fighters trying to earn their way into the UFC. This model would create an interesting dynamic by adding a promotion/relegation element to MMA and MMA discussion. When is an emerging star ready for the big show? Should a struggling veteran be “sent down” to Strikeforce? The counter argument to this of course is why should the UFC pay to develop talent when smaller promotions are perfectly willing to do the work for them? My answer is that a clear pattern is emerging. It goes like this. Non-UFC organization X signs young fighters with raw talent for a minimal investment. Over time, several of those fighters develop as projected and begin to gain recognition. Those fighters have a sense of loyalty to the organization that gave them an opportunity. The organization rides those fighters to financial viability and begins to make enough noise that the UFC is forced to acknowledge them. The UFC attacks Organization X directly by scheduling competing events and luring away fighters. Organization X’s growth slows or plateaus, which causes financial issues. The UFC swoops in and buys out Organization X at a good price to eliminate competition. I don’t know what this process is costing the UFC but instead of going through this every few years, why not just be proactive in eliminating competition by having a place for emerging talent to compete instead of allowing that talent to sign elsewhere and being forced to deal with the problem on the back end? Even if you only break even or take a slight loss in raw financial numbers, isn’t the increased strength of the monopoly and brand singularity worth the investment?

–I have a feeling that this is going to become a consistent theme of this column for as long as I’m allowed to write it but I feel compelled to address another judging issue. And by “issue,” I mean the absurdity of lazily copycatting boxing’s system. MMA should not be scored on a 10-9 round by round system. Based on the judging criteria, Melendez won the first three rounds last night and Thompson won the last two. But Melendez barely won those three rounds and did no damage to Thompson. In the final two rounds, Thompson completely controlled the fight and came the closest to finishing it. I know that damage isn’t everything but Thompson obviously inflicted a significantly greater amount than Melendez. That has to count for something. We’re scoring a fight. Damage matters. If you ask me to assess who won that fight without regard for any scoring system, I’d be adamant that Thompson won. But within the confines of the scoring system currently in place, Melendez won. And to me, that’s a problem. We need a mechanism that allows for greater flexibility. I don’t know exactly what that is but I do know that Thompson was robbed on Saturday night. Not by the judges, who did a great job throughout the event, but by the framework within which they were forced to operate.

-Alan Wells